Like they say, "It ain't over till it's over." That is how every day in rescue goes. This evening, we were sent pictures of kittens in a box and asked to estimate their age. Pictures can be incredibly deceiving depending upon how far or close up the camera is. You cannot estimate the age of very young kittens by size or weight. Without being able to evaluate which teeth were present, I had to rely upon their ears instead. Kittens are born with thickened ears folded over. As they age, the ears unfold and stand up from the head. Generally, the ears remain thickened until at least 4 weeks of age when the ears start to thin out and rapidly grow in length and pointedness. As you may have seen in the past, some kittens have comically large ears, which we say they have to grow into. Seeing smaller thickened ears, my best guess was that these kittens were 3 to 4 weeks old. Now for the backstory: An excavator truck driver reported that he saw an adult cat run from the machine when it was started today in Ozone Park. The truck was driven to a construction site adjacent to CitiField in Flushing. It wasn't until after reaching the work zone that someone heard cries. Workers pulled these three kittens out of the machine, thankfully uninjured. Workers put a bowl of water and an open can of Fiskies in the box, but at the end of the day, the box of kittens was left there. One worker did reach out to a rescue friend asking for advice, who in turn contacted us. When I told her that they were not weaned kittens, she relayed the information to the worker who drove back to the site to retrieve the kittens. So at 8:20 pm, I received three extremely dusty and dirty kittens who are hissing at me. And yes, the kittens are 4 weeks old as their canine teeth have recently erupted from their gums. Now, I have to bathe these stinkers. Just when I thought my day was done. 🙄 If you would like to donate towards the care of these kittens or any others, you can do so via our FB fundraiser for our Founder's birthday (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ApViejnv5/) or visit www.furrr911.org/donate. (fb)

So how has my day been going, you may ask. Well, the cold, damp weather is tightening up the muscles in my back causing more discomfort. Then, I get tagged on a post about a kitten. It seems one of our foster parents went out today to run an errand and heard kitten cries. This adorable little fluffball is what his search revealed. He looked around for mom or other kittens without success. He was so concerned that he even returned to the area two more times to search again. This cutie is now safely sequestered in the foster home and out of the cold rain. This is a very lucky kitten indeed. Earlier today, I posted a Facebook fundraiser in honor of my birthday today. Please consider making a donation today. So how has my day been going, you may ask. Well, the cold, damp weather is tightening up the muscles in my back causing more discomfort. Then, I get tagged on a post about a kitten. It seems one of our foster parents went out today to run an errand and heard kitten cries. This adorable little fluffball is what his search revealed. He looked around for mom or other kittens without success. He was so concerned that he even returned to the area two more times to search again. This cutie is now safely sequestered in the foster home and out of the cold rain. This is a very lucky kitten indeed. Earlier today, I posted a Facebook fundraiser in honor of my birthday today. Please consider making a donation today. If you prefer to donate directly through PayPal or Venmo (rather than Facebook which charges processing fees) or our wishlists, click on any of the links below. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ApViejnv5/ If you prefer to donate directly through PayPal or Venmo (rather than Facebook which charges processing fees) or our wishlists, click on any of the links below. Venmo: https://www.venmo.com/furrr911 (Last four digits 5508) PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/1217412 Cash App: https://cash.app/$FURRR911 Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1TTRV0X9F6MIA Chewy wishlist: https://prf.hn/click/camref:1011lfcas/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.chewy.com%2Fg%2Ffurrr-911-inc_b69307000 Kuranda beds wishlist: https://donate.shelterbeds.org/387547 To mail a check: FURRR 911, PO Box 645, Crompond, NY 10517 Thank you. (fb)